Friday the 13th: Camp Blood
Friday the 13th: Camp Blood is a 1984 slasher film, the fourth film in the ''Friday the 13th'' film series. The film was written and directed by Thomas Trenton who for the first time had complete control over the film. Despite being helmed by a first time director, it is still the second highest grossing film in the franchise, and for the first time a critical success, the first film in the series to receive favorable reviews since the original. Something Trenton attributes to the cast hired who were genuinely likable and Trenton's effort to make them people you can root for. Trenton wrote this film as a quasi-remake of the original, with an almost identical plot of a group of young people hired to restore Camp Crystal Lake for the summer season. Where as his initial script treated the characters as props, Trenton purposely made an effort to flesh out characters giving them feelings and reasons to speak other than to push the plot forward. Despite doing triple duty as an actor, writer and director, Trenton refused to have a stunt double due to his experiences in the previous two films and spent six weeks training with the stunt team to ably perform the requisite stunts for the film. Friday the 13th: Camp Blood opened on August 1, 1984 in 1,610 theaters, making $9.7 million its opening weekend. Ultimately, it would go on to gross a total of $39.3 million at the U.S. box office, ranking at number 46 on the list of the year's top earners. Plot Five years have passed since Jason's capture and incarceration at the Unger Institute of Mental Health. Since his internment Jason has withdrawn within himself and stopped speaking to everyone around him. Pressured by the FBI, the Justice Department has arranged for Jason to be transferred to New York city for trial, charged with the murder of Federal agents. His doctor worries that there won't be adequate care or security for such a high profile prisoner, but she's overruled and Jason is shipped out at night on a rushed schedule. The prisoner transport is going well for the first few hours until a road accident allows for Jason to escape and the resulting explosion with a tractor-trailer destroys all trace of his escape. However FBI Agent Elizabeth Marcus, still dealing with her experience with Jason, is contacted by the doctor and both suspect he has escaped. Jason makes his way back to Crystal Lake, and while stealing supplies, overhears how a local investor has re-opened the camp and is preparing for the summer season. Jason immediately heads out there to stop them and prevent his mother's memory from being tarnished. The new owner is and he's helped by Cast * Thomas Trenton as Jason Voorhees * Bruce Greenwood as Sheriff William Parks Production Pre-production and writing Although the previous film in the series, Friday the 13th: 3D, had been a financial success, it had disappointed the series' fans and received some of the worst reviews of any film in the franchise. In order to prevent further alienating the fans (and thus potentially endangering the series), the producers decided to take the series in a new direction, moving it away from what producer Frank Mancuso Jr. called the "coarse" nature of 3D. To this end, Mancuso offered Thomas Trenton the job of writing, directing and starring in the fourth chapter. Knowing that Trenton had a vested interest in the success of the series, it was felt that Trenton would be strongly motivated to succeed. Paramount gave Trenton essentially free rein on how he would present the story, with the only condition being that he lighten the tone of the film and make part 4 not so dark. To his credit Trenton realized that the realism of part 3 was too serious and decided to take the film in a new direction. Going back to the first two films in the series, he focused on the rampage aspects of Jason's persona and turned him into a mute killer, who was focused purely on killing. He followed the storyline of Parts 1 & 2, dropping the realistic criminal aspects of the past film and made Jason more mythic a creation. He opted not to drop popular characters Sheriff Parks and Agent Marcus, but deliberately kept them out of the main story unlike what happened in the previous film. Trenton would expand on their story arc with the next film, killing Marcus off in Part 5 and finally making Parks the hero in part 6. Casting Although Mancuso retained control over the film's casting, he deferred to Trenton's judgment, with the only caveat being that the final girl had to be a "very attractive blonde". To fulfill this requirement, Trenton chose Music The film's music was composed by Harry Manfredini, who composed the scores to all of the series' previous installments. On January 13, 2012, La-La Land Records released a limited edition 6-CD boxset containing Manfredini's scores from the first six Friday the 13th films. It sold out in less than 24 hours. Reception Box office Friday the 13th: Camp Blood opened on July 13, 1984 in 1,610 theaters, making $6.7 million its opening weekend. Ultimately, it would go on to gross a total of $32,980,880 at the U.S. box office, ranking at number 43 on the list of the year's top earners. Critical Response The first of what fans call, the Trenton Trilogy, the fourth film was mildly popular with critics, receiving favorable reviews, the first time since the original Friday the 13th. The film's screenplay was praised for having more of a plot than usual, and the likable cast was considered a good change. As hoped by Paramount, Trenton and the Producers, the series was brought back on track and allowed for future films in the franchise. Novelization A novelization of Friday the 13th Part IV: Camp Blood was written by Simon Hawke two years later in 1986; notably, the novelization features an appearance by Elias Voorhees, Jason's father who was originally meant to appear in the film, but was cut. The book also includes various flashbacks to Jason's childhood and the backstories of characters such as Sammy and Sheriff Parks are also expanded. External links *http://www.campcrystallake.com/thefilms/part4.htm *http://fridaythe13thfilms.com/films/friday4.html Category:1986 films Category:1986 horror films Category:Film scores by Harry Manfredini Category:Films directed by Tom McLoughlin Category:Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Friday Part 6 Category:Films set in 1990 Category:Paramount Pictures films Category:Sequel films Friday Part 6 Category:Films directed by Thomas Trenton